”All surveys and polling shows there are no parties can gain more vote on coming election but PKS. Some survey assure that PKS will get not less than 10 percent of vote on 2009,” an editor of political issue confirm me few days ago.

In some and other ways I agree with him. Beside two major parties, Golkar Party and Indonesia Democratic Party on Struggle (PDIP), other parties including Islamic parties have no solid achievement to maintain what they already got back in 2004 general election.

An officer in Agency For Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) told Antara they have conduct the development for the newly Indonesian genuine made armoured combat tracked vehicle. They will made a reverse engineering for the vital component the Indonesian industry still don’t capable to produce such as gear transfercase. Do we really need a new self made tank?

PT Pindad (Army Industrial Company) made their first debut developed 100 wheeled armoured personnel carrier for Indonesian Armed Forces. Is it time for Pindad to the next level, to build a tracked fighting vehicle or maybe a battle tank? Pindad has involved in reparation program of Scorpion tank and they made some parts of it such as track rubber shoe and link. We don’t argue the capabilities of Indonesian strategic industries to build such a thing. But what kind of tank we need to build?

Indonesian army always operate the light tank weighing not more than 20 tones due to the limitation of our road infrastructure and the nature of Indonesian wet soil. TNI still operates AMX-13 and Scorpions, while Marine Corps rely on the old Sovyet era, the amphibious PT-76. They had acquire the more modern BMP-2 from Ukraine and still waiting for the delivery of 20 BMP-3F from Russia.

Indonesian military industry represented by PT Pindad (Army Industrial Company) has proved itself as trusted provider for army needs. Their latest invention was medium six wheeled armoured personnel carrier (APC) ‘descended’ from French made Renault VAB (Vehicule de I’Avant Blinde), in 2006. The so called Panser 0 (zero) Series was not a mere copy cat from VAB. Indeed they don’t made it overnight.

(word ‘panser’ used by Indonesian tongue I believe derived from Dutch or German word ‘panzer’ that means tank or armoured vehicle. In Indonesia, however, it describe the wheeled armoured vehicle. Meanwhile, tracked armoured vehicle still called tank as in english)

Long development of self made weapon have been conduct since US government imposed military embargo on TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) in 1996. The need become so obvious when TNI launch a large scale military campaign in Aceh Province in 2003. In the attempt to suppress the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerillas, both sides found they fought in a Vietnam War era. Old weapons fight 60s technologies armory.